Agent for Sale
by Still Waters
Summary: Pepper becomes involved in human trafficking brings up pain from the past. Touches on painful subject.


For those who haven't given up on my other two stories, I aplogize for the delay. Life has been crazy busy and a difficult loss has left me having a hard time focusing. I'm hoping to soon update those. I do know where they're going, but the next step is giving me a little trouble. Meanwhile, this little plot bunny wouldn't leave me alone, so here it is. Hope you enjoy it.

Agent for Sale: Some Baggage

The tower was strangely still as Maria and Phil exited the elevator and crossed the foyer towards the conference room.

"Pssst. Phil," a voice whispered. It sounded like Clint, though neither of the agents could see him. "Hide!" the voice ordered.

Before they could move, Pepper Potts came around the corner and approached them, a smile lighting up her face.

"Phil! So great to see you again!" she exclaimed as she crossed towards them.

"Too late. Sorry," the voice whispered again.

As the two exchanged a puzzled glance, Pepper threw a quick smile at Maria. "You, too, Agent Hill," she added offhandedly as she turned her full attention to Coulson, wrapping her arms around his and tugging him towards the conference room.

She settled him in a comfortable chair and brought him a drink before sitting in front of him, a big smile on her face. "So, Phil, guess you've been pretty busy, saving the world and protecting all the innocents out there?"

"I suppose," he agreed cautiously.

"Wouldn't it be great to be able to help people and relax and enjoy yourself at the same time?" she asked innocently.

Across the room, Maria struggled to suppress a grin, turning a laugh into a small snort. Phil glared at the quickly before turning his attention back to Pepper.

"Guess that would depend," he told her, "on what it would involve."

Pepper hastened to reassure him, "It would be virtually no effort on your part. You'd get treated to a leisurely luncheon at no charge and then to a black tie dinner by a five star chef, again at no charge to you. All you have to do is show up and be your charming self."

"And?"

She shrugged, "That's all."

He stared her down.

"You just escort the lady who buys you," she added with another shrug.

"Buys me?"

"The luncheon includes a bachelor auction," she further explained. "The ladies bid on the gentleman that they want to escort them to the function that evening. It's just a fun way to raise a little more money for the cause. It's not like you'd have to marry her or anything."

"Pepper," Phil interrupted. "I'm sure you've gotten some to the most high powered, well known movers and shakers to agree to this."

"I've already gotten Tony to agree and Steve. I'm still trying to talk to Clint, but we just don't seem to cross paths. We've got a dozen or so eligible men from around the city."

"So, why me?" he asked. "I'm not someone these ladies have ever heard of and no one is going to pay money for the privilege of being my escort."

"Of course they will," she hastened to reassure him. "You're handsome and fit. We market you as a James Bond type. The handsome, charming spy veneer covering the dangerous spy, willing to risk life and limb to protect the innocent from evil villains."

"And besides," Maria piped up, "Not everyone could afford a Stark or a Rogers. They need men in all different price ranges for those on a more limited budget," she said with a grin.

"Thanks a lot, Hill," Coulson replied.

"Well, yes," Pepper acknowledged, "There's that, too. We've also gotten agreements from several police officers and fire fighters. The more men we auction off, the more money we raise."

She looked at him hopefully.

"I don't know if Fury would agree to it," he protested.

"I'm not asking Fury," Pepper said. "Though he does have a certain something," she murmured thoughtfully.

Coulson choked on his drink as Maria burst into laughter. "If you ask him," she said, "Please get it on tape," she pleaded.

"Maybe not," Pepper decided, turning her attention and pleading eyes back to Phil.

"I think I may have plans for Saturday."

"So, what's the fundraiser for?" Maria asked, enjoying seeing Phil trying to squirm out of the event.

Pepper threw her a smile. "I didn't mention that? It's for CAPAR. Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Resources."

"I'll do it."

"They provide classes and counseling for families that have been identified as high risk."

"Count me in."

"They also provide training for educators and medical personnel on recognizing, documenting, and reporting cases."

"Just tell me when and where."

"Also they provide additional resources for the foster parents who are willing to take in kids who have been removed from abusive situations."

She stopped and looked at Phil. "Did you say you'd do it?"

"Absolutely," he nodded.

She broke into a broad smile and jumped up to hug him. Something on his face, though, stopped her. His charming grin was gone and she could see the hardness that made him a valued SHIELD agent.

"Um. Thanks."

He nodded and quickly turned his attention to a file folder in his hand.

"Phil? Did your parents..." She hesitated.

When the silence became uncomfortable, she rushed to fill it.

"I'm sorry. That's really none of my business. Please forgive me."

He finally looked up at her.

"No, my parents would never have hurt me. But they sure didn't speak up to prevent it, either."

He paused a moment, gathering his thoughts.

"My dad was career military. I guess I was about 8 or 9 when someone moved into the house next to us on base. I was so excited because it was a guy with a kid about my age. Kid was wearing a cast. The dad said something about falling down the stairs trying to carry boxes out to the moving van. Made sense at the time. We got to be pretty good friends. Not many other kids on base our age."

After another pause, he continued. "Then there was the black eye. Wandering around the new house in the dark and ran into something. The sprained wrist from falling off a bike. The burned arm from bumping up against the stove. 'Accident prone' the adults said."

"Then there was the yelling. Sometimes, when the weather was warm and the windows were open, we could hear him yelling and things crashing. My mom would get up and close the window, muttering about him having his television turned up too loud. They knew the truth, though. Everyone did. My parents, the school staff, the medics on base. They all knew, but no one did anything to help."

After a few minutes of silence, Pepper reached over to touch his arm.

"So, what happened to your friend?"

He patted her hand, pulling himself back to the present.

"Ran away from home at sixteen. Somehow managed to finish school and get a full ride scholarship, then joined the military. Turned out to be one hell of an officer. One of the few people I'm completely comfortable with having my back."

After another extended silence, they were both startled by the sound of a throat clearing across the room.

"I think you're being way too hard on your parents, Phil," Maria said.

"They didn't say anything, Maria."

"They really couldn't" she told him. "Besides the fact that people didn't talk about that back then, my dad outranked yours. Can you imagine what would have happened if your dad had reported what was going on?The police would have come to our quarters and asked if he was beating me and he would have denied it. Then he would have gone after your father for reporting him. He probably would have been discharged, left without a job while nothing would have changed for me."

"Yeah, but he would have done something."

"Besides," she continued. "Your parents did more for me than anyone else ever did."

He looked at her in confusion.

"Your house was my haven. When things got bad, I could hide out over there."

"But they didn't know," he told her.

"Of course they knew," she told him. "Didn't you every wonder why your parents suddenly decided they needed to hide a key to your back door in the garden?"

"Actually, I kind of did wonder about that," he admitted. "They felt so safe there that the only time that door was ever locked was at night."

"And why they chose to show you where it was hidden when I was over there with you? Or why your mother suddenly decided they had to have a spare bed set up in her sewing room just in case you had out of town visitors?"

"Well, yeah. You really think they knew you spent the night there sometimes?"

"I know they did. Your mom would always come in to check on me. She'd sit down on the edge of the bed and brush my hair back and ask me if I needed anything. I'd always say 'no' so she'd turn on the light just enough to look me over. Usually, she'd pull the covers up and turn the light out and leave, but there were a few times she took me into the kitchen to bandage me up and give me a pushup pop"

"I always wondered why she bought those," Phil interjected. "No one in our family liked those orange sherbert things."

"That's why," she told him. "Guess you didn't know that they also went to my father and offered to let me live with you. Told him it would make things easier on him. He refused, obviously. Told them he could take care of his own kid, but they made the offer."

"Didn't know that, either," he admitted. "Guess I didn't notice as much as I thought I did."

He smiled over at her. "I still wish they had done more."

She shrugged. "They did what they could at the time."

Shifting her attention to Pepper, she told the other woman, "I'd be willing to match whatever donation you get for him, if you'll just let me know."

"Thank you, Agent Hill. I'll do that." Holding her gaze for a moment longer, she added, "I'm sorry."

Hill nodded and whispered a soft reply.

"Thank you."

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month.


End file.
